WTO, UN Agree to Increase Trade, Food, Climate Change Cooperation
The World Trade Organization and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on Dec. 1 agreed to increase cooperation on various issues related to food and agricultural trade and climate change, the WTO announced. Heads of both organizations -- WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and FAO Director-General Qu Dognyu -- signed a "framework memorandum of understanding" at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) to "facilitate the organizations' close cooperation in these areas."
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The organizations will boost cooperation in 17 areas, including "support for the WTO's ongoing negotiations on agricultural reform, the implementation of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies adopted at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (including on projects funded through the Fisheries Funding Mechanism Trust Fund), and hosting the annual World Cotton Day celebration on 7 October of each year," the WTO said. The deal also will lead to greater FAO support to the WTO Committee on Agriculture and improve cooperation on sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade, the WTO said.
The memorandum also included a pledge to "develop joint publications on topics of mutual interest, including the nexus between food security, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, climate change, nutrition and trade."